Unfortunately, because they're rare, the ones that someone has managed to get properly licensed and insured command pretty high prices on the used market. Like...take that $500 I mentioned and tack a zero on the end!

If the supply were increased for something like you suggest, though, that would take care of the big price inflation. A good pre-importation inspection would add a bit to the final cost, but could weed out units likely to cause low-income owners a lot of maintenance expenditures. They're all right-hand drive, which would throw some folks off, but I suspect many would just learn to deal with it for the opportunity to have a decent, cheap grocery-getter.